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Angels, demons, Nazis and Barcelona–Meet T. Frohock and Los Nefilim

Happy Tuesday from the high reaches of the Dark Tower, as I’m currently calling my attic office. The air conditioning went out a week ago–just in my office area–and will be out another week. Did I mention it is 97 freaking degrees outside??

Sorry, I digress. One of the great things about being an author is the chance to meet other authors, in this case T. Frohock, with whom I share a terrific literary agent. T is here today to celebrate the release of Los Nefilim, the first time the three novellas of the Los Nefilim collection have appeared together in print. Happy release day!]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: T. Frohock has turned a love of dark fantasy and horror into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. She lives in North Carolina where she has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying….She is the author of Miserere: An Autumn Tale and numerous short stories. Her newest series, Los Nefilim, is from Harper Voyager Impulse, and contains all three novellas: In Midnight’s Silence, Without Light or Guide, and The Second Death.

Next, let’s hear about the books, which are awesome, by the way, and enjoy a Q&A with the author:

ABOUT LOS NEFILIM: Collected together for the first time, T. Frohock’s three novellas–In Midnight’s Silence, Without Light or Guide, and The Second Death–brings to life the world of Los Nefilim, Spanish Nephilim that possess the power to harness music and light in the supernatural war between the angels and daimons. In 1931, Los Nefilim’s existence is shaken by the preternatural forces commanding them … and a half-breed caught in-between…..Diago Alvarez, a singular being of daimonic and angelic descent, is pulled into the ranks of Los Nefilim in order to protect his newly-found son. As an angelic war brews in the numinous realms, and Spain marches closer to civil war, the destiny of two worlds hangs on Diago’s actions. Yet it is the combined fates of his lover, Miquel, and his young son, Rafael, that weighs most heavily on his soul……Lyrical and magical, Los Nefilim explores whether moving toward the light is necessarily the right move, and what it means to live amongst the shadows.

Okay, here it is, along with a quote from my favorite “I hate your book” review:

LOS NEFILIM is about “two gay guys raising a kid” while being chased by angels, daimons, and Nazis in Barcelona on the eve of the Spanish Civil War.

Describe your favorite scene in Los Nefilim? Why is it your favorite?

I loved writing the more intimate scenes between Diago and the people around him. The ones that don’t get talked about too much are the scenes between Diago and Guillermo. I have two, but the one in IN MIDNIGHT’S SILENCE is one of my favorites. It’s right at the end of the story when Diago is incapacitated from a vampire’s bite.

The other Nefilim are taking turns sitting with him through the night, and it is Guillermo who is beside him when he awakens. Diago always plays everything close to the vest, so that not even his lover Miquel always knows what he is thinking, but Guillermo has a talent for drawing Diago from his shell. Guillermo’s gentle humor guides Diago through a tough decision. The whole scene is about how Guillermo’s sanguinity balances against Diago’s inner-hate.

They are old, old friends and the scene was so wonderfully enjoyable to write, because I’m in much as love with Guillermo as Diago. They’ve both been through hard times together, and I love showing how people relate to each other through dialogue and soft moments like these.

Hardest scene you’ve ever written:

In THE SECOND DEATH when the bad guys tear Diago’s son Rafael out of his arms. That was a tough scene for a lot of reasons for me. I just tried to imagine someone fighting me for my daughter and had to grit my teeth through it. I dislike writing violent scenes, but because of the noir/thriller genre, some were needed. This was one of them, and although it was difficult to write, I was very pleased with the end result.

Easy: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. I used to love all of the wild things and hated it when Max went home.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD by Patricia McKillip. I have read thousands of books since then, but none where I was so thoroughly enchanted from the beginning. I felt like I had found myself and where I belonged in the world.

Most horrifying moment while reading a book:

When I got to the jackal burial in THE OMEN. I had checked out the book from the library, and I just couldn’t put it down, so it was about two in the morning when I got to the graveyard scene. Nothing seemed that horrific until they opened the coffin. It was one of the few times that the hair went straight up on my arms while reading. I put the book down after that and tried to sleep.

Hahahahaha … you can guess how well that went.

Seriously, though, the thing that scene taught me was that you didn’t need blood and gore to horrify. Good timing and atmosphere were much more important.

What’s next?

I don’t know. I’m between contracts, and while I would love to write more LOS NEFILIM, I’m not sure that is going to happen right now. I’m going to brush off an old manuscript and see if I can make it better, and then start a new novel. I believe what I need to do right now is get back in touch with my own creativity and see where I would like to go next.

That’s the adventure of it all.

Ah, it is indeed, and I’ll be reviewing one of the best books I’ve read about creativity next week, Elizabeth Gilbert’s BIG MAGIC. It makes me want to write, whereas normally, I only want to sleep. Well, I still want to sleep. Badly. But write too.

Anyway, do you have a favorite angels and or demons novel? Share it with us for a chance to win a print copy of LOS NEPHILIM!

About Suzanne Johnson

Author of urban and paranormal fantasy and romantic suspense, currently living in Auburn, Alabama. Author of the Sentinels of New Orleans series (Royal Street; River Road: Elysian Fields, Pirate's Alley, and Belle Chasse (Nov 2016). Writing as Susannah Sandlin, she is the author of the Penton Legacy series (Redemption; Absolution; Omega; Storm Force; Allegiance); The Collectors series (Lovely, Dark, and Deep; Deadly, Calm, and Cold); and the upcoming Wilds of the Bayou series (Book 1, Wild Man's Curse) releases April 2016).